


Aiming Towards the New World

by Tsorin



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Also I am still confused as to why APOLLO was the knowledge piece of GAIA, F/M, Gen, In which Avad tries to fix some of Ted Farro's massive screw-ups, It should have been MINERVA, Post-Game(s), Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 02:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10426854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsorin/pseuds/Tsorin
Summary: Aloy continues to explore the world, pushing the boundaries of everything the tribes know. Still, she finds herself coming back to Meridian.Avad's feelings change, but do not disappear. He gives Aloy a gift, a hope for the future.





	

The thing about relative peace, Avad finds, is that it involves a lot of paperwork.

Not that running the Carja Empire has ever been easy. But Avad had thought – hoped naively apparently – that maybe peace would be different. He no longer had to worry about the shadow Carja. (Itamen is safe and a knot in Avad’s chest had gone away when he saw his little brother at Aloy’s side that day.) And they are more at peace with the other tribes than they have ever been in the history of the Carja.

Perhaps that’s part of the problem. Peace means trade, which means trade treaties. Trade means the mixing of cultures, often in explosive ways. Sometimes it is people from outside tribes but often it is the Carja at fault. And every last dispute seems to end up in Avad’s lap.

When he can no longer stand to look at the piles of paperwork on his desk, he excuses himself to the bathroom. Murad gives him a Look but allows it. Perhaps he sensed how close Avad was to eating his quill so he wouldn’t be able to sign anything ever again.

Avad’s favorite place in the whole palace is Lower Gardens. There is just something so calming about being surround by life that demands nothing of him. Perhaps Itamen is done with his lessons by now and Avad will run into him. He’s seen his brother multiple times since Itamen was returned, but it feels like it will never be enough.

But when he approaches the entrances to the Gardens, it is Erend’s voice he hears. For a moment Avad considers turning back. Erend probably wants something. Everyone always does.

But that’s not fair to Erend, who has been a constant and loyal supporter. He’s not Ersa, but in some ways that’s a good thing. Marad has heard, which means in turn that _Avad_ has heard, the gossip that paints Erend as a bumbling oaf. It makes the nobles underestimate Erend’s skills, which can only be a good thing. No one has said anything to Erend yet so Avad is content to let it lie for now.

But a female voice responds. A familiar female voice that makes Avad’s heart clench. And if he takes the last few steps into the Garden at some speed, at least he knows the guards will never say anything.

They both turn to look at him as he steps out onto the balcony. Aloy is beautiful as usual. The setting sun catches her hair, making it flame brightly. She smiles at Avad and waves before turning back to finish her conversation with Erend. Avad must have caught the tale end of it because they finish up quickly and Erend makes and excuse to leave. Avad hopes that his eyes convey his gratitude.

“Avad,” Aloy says. “It’s been a while.”

“It has,” he says. “Have you been well?”

Aloy laughs and it’s like the rising sun. Avad can feel the tension seep from his shoulders. There are not many who would laugh in the Sun King’s presence. It reminds Avad that he is more than just the Sun King and he cannot be more grateful to Aloy for that.

“Not much to complain about,” she says.

Avad comes to stand beside her, leans forward on the balcony that overlooks the farmlands below. Aloy swings herself up on the ledge beside him, carelessly rocking back and forth on her perch. Were it anyone else, Avad would fear for their safety.

“I finally reached the ocean,” she continues. “It was so amazing! Nothing but water, as far as the eye can see. And the water is different than the water here. It’s so salty.”

She takes the machine – the Focus, she calls it – from her own ear and slides it behind Avad’s. She taps the side and suddenly the most amazing landscape appears before Avad’s eyes.

Just as Aloy says, the horizon is nothing but miles and miles of water. There is a rushing sound that Avad eventually realizes is coming from waves of water crashing against the shore. There are the cries of strange birds. Then something moves directly across Avad’s field of vision. It is instinct that brings his hand up to brush it away and the illusion dissolves.

“Amazing,” Avad says.

“Isn’t it?” Aloy says. “I found another cauldron and cradle nearby too. There are some very strange machines. Some that must be based on some kind of megafauna. All because that’s the kind of thing that interests Gaia.”

She taps the focus again and a strange machine appears. Its hind legs are bigger than it’s front ones and it has some kind of long flat tail.

“That one is a aquatic machine – like the Snapjaws. Except not nearly as aggressive. Though I suppose they might have been… before.”

It has been interesting in the aftermath of Aloy freeing the machines from the Shadow’s control. The skittish Grazers have become more approachable, and the aggressive species, such as the Glinthawks and the Snapjaws, appear to care little for the humans that now scurry around their nests. Even though Meridian is still rebuilding from the Shadow Carja attack, refugees are leaving, returning to their abandoned farms and settlements. Pretty much all are safe and some have even benefitted from having a herd of Grazers or a pack of Snapjaws nearby.

“There was even a tribe leaving near the ocean. They seem to fish a lot. I didn’t want to get too close just yet. But they go out to the ocean a lot, usually in boats but sometimes on these flat boards.”

She taps again. This time bushes obscure his vision. Then he – or rather, Aloy – shifts a branch out of their way, exposing a small group of humans standing on the shore’s edge. They are each carrying a flat piece of wood. Then one lays down on it and paddles out into the sea with his hands. Another surge of water and the woman stands on her board, using her hands to maintain her balance. It is certainly like nothing Avad has seen before.

Apparently this is all Aloy has recorded because the vision fades out and Avad is looking at the Meridian farmlands again. Before he has a chance to remove it himself, Aloy reaches into his space and takes the Focus from his ear.

“Such a wonder,” Avad murmurs to himself.

“Is it?” Aloy says.

What must Aloy’s world be like, that such a technological marvel appears as commonplace to her? Even as the Oseram smiths took apart docile machine after docile machine, even as their understanding of them grew, they must have appeared like animals to Aloy.

Was it hard, he wondered, being a person from the distant past? Aloy would have fit in with the Old Ones.

What could he offer to someone like that?

“What is next for you?” he asks her. “Across the ocean?”

That, the ultimate unknown, seems to stop even Aloy in her tracks. Avad can understand. How large was the ocean? How far would anyone have to go to find other lands? Aloy had showed him the old world on the tiny sphere she wore around her neck. It looked so small on the ball, but how big would those distances be in real life?

“I don’t know,” she says after a moment.

“There’s no rush,” Avad says. “Stay a while. I believe Petra will be by with her latest creation.”

“I haven’t seen her in a while,” Aloy says. “Maybe Talanah is in the Hunting Lodge.”

Avad wavers for a moment on the edge before throwing himself into the arms of chance.

“Come by for dinner,” he says, watching her carefully for a reaction.

Aloy stops, holds herself completely still. Avad wonders if she is thinking about Ersa. Does Aloy still see herself as Ersa’s replacement? Their similarities are obvious but the more time Avad spends with Aloy, the more differences he sees.

Both are strong, but Ersa was a boulder while Aloy is steel. Ersa was constant and unmovable. It was her conviction that Avad was drawn to.

With Aloy, Avad is attracted to her adaptiveness. No one but Aloy would have chased a question across the world and back and change the whole of the world in the process. One of the Nora braves had mentioned Aloy’s new status within the tribe and Avad knows so many who would take advantage of blind worship, but Aloy had refused it. It wasn’t true, so Aloy stopped the idea in its tracks.

Avad often wishes he had had the courage to take such a stance. More so now that he has learned that the Sun is nothing more than another star. He feels like a fraud now, but Aloy and Murad insist he is doing good for his people.

Ersa wouldn’t have cared about such concerns. She dealt in the concrete. Yet another difference.

Avad hasn’t seen Aloy as Ersa in a while now. But perhaps he has not made it clear to Aloy?

The room pricks at his mind. Should he show it to her now? It’s so empty, but Avad lacks the knowledge to properly fill it. It is probably as complete as it is going to get.

Avad makes his decision.

“Can I show you something?”

 

It was important to Avad that the Archive be outside of Meridian. It is still within Carja territory, but that cannot be helped.

As they leave the palace, Avad’s guards move to follow. He waves them off, ignoring Murad’s disapproving gaze at his back. With Aloy’s Focus and abilities, he has nothing to fear.

It is due to years of practice that Avad can sense the more covert guards trailing them. He sighs and Aloy laughs under her breath, exchanging an amused look with him.

But as they leave the walls of Meridian, Aloy appears to become more and more confused. They go out and out into the sands.

Finally they arrive at the Thunderjaw’s lair. Where it once would have attacked on sight, killing at least Avad for sure, now it lumbered past, ignoring them. A few Glinthawks swoop a bit too low for its liking, but the roar is rather halfhearted. Still, the Glinthawks scatter.

Where the rock face juts out, Avad makes his way over to a large boulder. Despite its appearance, it takes very little effort for Avad to slide it to the side. Oseram ingenuity at work.

Behind the rock is a thick metal door with an Oseram-created lock. It is designed in such a way that it can only be opened with the key and Avad has made sure there is only one. He takes it from his pocket and unlocks the door before handing it off to Aloy. She takes it, turning it over in her hands.

The door opens to the top of a set of stone stairs. At Avad’s prompting, Aloy lights a torch at the top of the stairs. A rush of sparks runs down the stairwell, lighting other torches as it goes. Avad leads the way down into the lightening darkness.

When they reach the bottom of the stairs, the size of the underground structure becomes apparent. The room is large and the outline of a doorway leading to even more space can be seen on the opposite side of the room.

The need for the size also becomes apparent as the flickering lights glint off the carcasses of Watchers and Grazers and Snapjaws and many other machines. Off to the side are some large jars which contained various inks and paints.

“What is this?” Aloy asked. She moved further into the room, running a hand along the partly dismantled remains of a Strider.

“I’ve taken to calling it the Archive. I just thought… You told me how the whole of human knowledge was wiped out once before. I thought we should make sure that did not happen again. If something were to happen to you…”

Aloy’s loss would be terrible, not just for Avad personally, but for all of the tribes. There was so much lost knowledge that existed only inside her mind. If they were to lose it…

“I had some things brought. The traditional tools of course. If you want some help with the wall paintings and such, let me know and I can find some assistants for you. But I am sure there is some information that can’t be stored that way. I had some… parts, I suppose you could say, brought here. Just to give you a start.”

“It’s… amazing, Avad.”

The flames of her hair flicker and shake as she begins to talk, picking up speed as she goes.

“I’ll have to check with GAIA, get her to fabricate some of the data storage devices… Maybe we could even have a GAIA console right here! Oh, but I’m sure the power source will be an issue.”

Avad, having nothing to contribute, watched her talk back and forth with herself. Aloy had tried to explain GAIA to him once, but it hadn’t made sense. A creature that was a mind and a soul without a body of its own? Perhaps seeing it in the flesh would help it make sense?

“But that will have to wait,” Aloy says, pausing and turning to look at him. Her cheeks are flushed with excitement and her eyes sparkle with the possibilities.

“Why?” Avad finds himself asking.

Aloy reaches out and takes his hand, leading the way back up into the fading daylight.

“We have a dinner, don’t we?” she says. She doesn’t look back, but her hand tightens on Avad’s own. Relief seeps into Avad’s shoulders. He squeezes back.


End file.
